Cover photo credit: Betsy Tripaldi
Written by Nate Baxter and Sathvik Nori
The boys basketball team capped off senior night with a dominating 58-27 win over the Carlmont Scots. In a night celebrating the contribution of the six M-A senior basketball players, the Bears proved why they are still a dominating force in the PAL South.
With a starting lineup of all seniors, the Bears got off to a hot start with threes from seniors Nick Tripaldi and Trevor Wargo. After getting up to a quick 14-4 lead, the Bears did not look back, expanding the margin from there to create a 33-13 lead at half. According to Wargo, it was the Bears’ three point shooting and defensive mentality that helped them create this lead. “We did what we always do, which is shut teams down and make our shots.”
Even with a large lead, the 6th Man kept it loud, feeding off a big dunk by senior Justin Anderson and a Tripaldi three pointer with a foul. Wargo loved the energy of the 6, saying how “the atmosphere was awesome as the gym was packed.” With six minutes left in the fourth and the game out of reach for the Scots, coach Michael Molieri pulled out the seniors, who were cheered on by the crowd. When talking about the seniors, junior Spencer Lin mentioned how they “have fun” while keeping “the same goal in mind” as the rest of the team. When the final buzzer sounded, the Bears were up 58-27.
When reflecting on his career playing basketball at M-A, Wargo noted, “I grew tremendously as a basketball player and a person during my time at M-A. I’m sad that my time playing high school basketball is coming to an end.”
Tripaldi added on saying, “I had some really fun times, I am going to miss it a lot.” The Bears look to continue their 13 game winning streak at Hillsdale on Wednesday.
